Two of the suspects summoned for questioning by the judge investigating Liam Payne’s death have reportedly declined to testify.
Braian Nahuel Paiz and a former hotel worker apparently said they were “retaining their right to remain silent” during their video interviews on Tuesday (17 December), according to Argentine media.
The two men are among the five suspects expected to learn early in the new year whether they will be prosecuted over the One Direction star’s death, aged 31, in October.
Judge Laura Bruniard has 10 days after questioning them to decide if they should face charges as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, or whether the case against them should be closed.
Paiz, an Argentinian waiter, appeared on local TV last month where he insisted that he did not supply Payne with drugs or accept any money from him.
He claimed he met the “Strip That Down” singer, 31, in his hotel twice before Payne fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room on 16 October.
“I never supplied Liam with drugs,” he said, according to the translated interview. “Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work.
“We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”
The other man has not commented publicly since it emerged that he had been placed under formal investigation.
Citing Argentinian media, The Mirror reports that the court’s questioning will conclude tomorrow (Thursday 19 December), when the remaining three suspects are questioned.
Payne was pronounced dead on October 16, after emergency services responded to a hotel manager’s call about an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
Early toxicology reports revealed he had “multiple substances” in his system when he died.
During the investigation, “illicit conduct was discovered from which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics,” prosecutor Andrés Madrea said in a statement in November.
One person who was with Payne daily has been charged with the abandonment of a person following death. Meanwhile, a hotel employee is accused of supplying Payne with cocaine and a third person is accused of supplying drugs to the singer.
Payne’s funeral was held on Wednesday 20 November, and was attended by his former One Direction bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan, along with his family and other friends including James Corden.
